Control of a system for processing a stream of information based on information content

ABSTRACT

A segment announcing system is disclosed that contains one or more segment announcement receivers that receive one or more announcements over a network connection and/or other communication connection. The announcements contain content information about the content of broadcast information being broadcast, e.g., to a television. The segment announcement receivers have one or more control outputs to perform a function, typically to control the segment announcement receivers during processing of information called a content stream.

The present Application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/080,319, filed on May 15, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No.6,005,603.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the control of information processing, e.g. atelevision. More specifically, the invention relates to control of atelevision, and/or other related devices, by signals received over oneor more connections to communication connection, like a network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Television displays a stream of program segments, sometimes includingcommercial messages, to users/viewers. This information is received bythe television by any number of well known transmission methodsincluding: direct broadcast, cable, fiber optics, etc.

In some of the prior art, some control of the programming is given tothe user. For example, there are “pay per view” features in certaincable television networks that provide a particular program to atelevision viewer only if the viewer agrees to pay for the program,either as a periodic subscription or as a per use payment. Certainsubscription services provide specific types of programming (e.g. natureor children's programming) or programming with a limited number or nocommercial messages.

In certain information processing systems, e.g., a video recorder,devices can be controlled by characteristics of the signal itself. Forexample, a dark screen occurring in a television program being recordedindicates that a commercial is about to begin (end) and that the recordspeed of the video recorder should be slowed down (sped up).

However, in much of the prior art, there is a limited amount ofautomatic control that the user has over his television based on thecontent of the information being received by the television. Therefore,there is a need for an improved way to control the content outputted bya television (either to the television monitor and/or to an attachedprocessing device like a video recorder) in standard televisionprogramming that is based on the content of the information that isbeing received by/sent to the television.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of this invention is to provide a system and method forgenerating an output function based on the content of a stream ofinformation.

An object of this invention is an improved system and method forcontrolling the information that is outputted from a television.

An object of this invention is a system and method that uses content ofinformation to select specific information to be outputted from atelevision.

An object of this invention is a system and method that uses content ofinformation to prevent specific information (e.g. commercials) frombeing outputted from a television.

In a first aspect of the present invention, a segment announcing systemis disclosed that contains one or more segment announcement receiversthat receive one or more announcements over a network connection and/orother communication connection. The announcements contain descriptionsabout the content of broadcast information (content stream), e.g., beingbroadcast to a television. The segment announcement receivers have oneor more control outputs to perform one or more functions. For example,one of the control outputs can be connected to one or more televisionsand/or one or more television processing devices (like a videorecorder). The type of control used depends on the description of thecontent stream being broadcast/received and, in a preferred embodiment,preferences of the user.

The announcements have one or more headers that have contentdescriptions, e.g., one or more categories of content describing asegment of broadcast information (content stream). Descriptions of thesegment/content stream, e.g., the start and/or end time (and/orduration) of the segment, is also included in the network message. Inone preferred embodiment, certain types of categories of content, e.g.commercials, produce certain types of control functions, e.g. soundmuting or video recorder pause. In other preferred embodiments, afterone or more of these content categories is matched to a filter record inthe segment announcement receiver, an appropriate control outputassociated with the respective content category is activated and thetelevision (segment announcement receiver) is controlled the selectedway, e.g. during the processing of the information (content stream).

In one preferred embodiment a service is provided by a server on thenetwork, called a segment announcer. The server has a process thatcomposes the network messages and transmits them to all or to selected(e.g. those paying for the service) segment announcement receiversconnected on the network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the segment announcer system showing one ormore segment announcers, a communication connection, and one or moreconnected segment announcement receivers, e.g. a video recorder or atelevision.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing alternative preferred embodiments ofthe segment announcer.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example announcement.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example filter record in a preferredembodiment of the segment announcement receiver.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a process operating within the segmentannouncement receiver that activates/deactivates the control output(s)when certain packet information in the network message is received.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the segment announcer system 100 showingone or more segment announcers 110, a communication connection 120, andone or more connected segment announcement receivers, e.g. a videorecorder or a television.

The segment announcer 110 is a computer workstation, e.g. an IBM laptoppersonal computer, that is typically used by a person 111 or group ofpeople 111 to enter descriptive information about the content of one ormore content streams 112 they 111 are perceiving. The content streams112 can include any type of information as follows: a televisionprogram, a radio program, a corporate information session, a commercial,a live sporting event, etc.

For example, the person 111 can represent a special interest group thatis viewing the content of a television program being broadcast in realtime or alternatively to be broadcast using tape at a later time. Thisperson would provide descriptive information, like a rating, based onhis organization's viewpoint. For instance, an animal rights group 111would input descriptive information about the treatment of certainanimals on a nature television program to be aired later in the day.

In an alternative example, the person 111 could be a spectator at a livesporting event that has interest in a specific player's performance.When that player does something noteworthy, descriptive information (250below) about the event is inputted.

In another example, a group of people 111 will monitor a television(radio) program and indicate when a commercial begins or ends. If one ofthe people 111 is inattentive, one of the others 111 will input thedescription 250 instead.

In another preferred embodiment, the segment announcer 109 is a centraldata bank of descriptive information 250 about the content of variouscontent streams 112 currently being transmitted and/or to be transmittedin the future. These descriptions can be submitted in real time (e.g.,as describe about) over communication connections 120 like the Internetand/or can be provided from various interest groups as stored datafiles. For example, the owner of the segment announcer 110 would buycomments, rating, etc. from various movie critics and provide them tothe segment announcement receivers as they view them movie. Certainreligious or political groups 111 might also provide descriptions(comments, ratings, etc.) About the information as well. Payments couldbe made for the descriptions 250, either by the owner of the segmentannouncer or by the groups 111 seeking to have their descriptions 250transmitted to the segment announcement receivers. The users 155 of thesegment announcement receivers might also pay for the transmission ofthese descriptions 250.

Other examples of descriptions 250 include: a rating, a category, acomment, a content description, a segment type, a program part, aprogram source, a review, a statistic, and a character name.

The descriptions 250 of the content are transmitted by announcement 115over the communication link 120 to the segment announcement receivers150. The announcement 115 is further described in FIG. 3.

This content information is transmitted to one or more segmentannouncement receivers 150 over one or more well known transmissionmodes/connections 120. While FIG. 1 shows the mode as a network 120,other transmissions modes like multicast packets over the Internet,radio broadcast, cable networks, Digital Video Broadcast data stream(DVB), vertical blanking interval (for analog television), satellite,and telephone, are envisioned without loss of generality.

The segment announcement receivers receive the announcements 115. Thesegment announcement receivers are any single processing device thatprocesses the signal being transmitted over the communication connection120. In one preferred embodiment, the communication connection is atelevision broadcast (e.g., off air or cable) and the segmentannouncement receiver is a television and/or video recorder. Otherexamples of a segment announcement receiver include: a radio 163, adeferred use device (like a tape delay (not shown) or video recorder(not shown)), a closed circuit television 162, and a computer 161. Thesedevices have known communication interfaces 152 appropriate for thecommunication mode 120. For example, the interface 152 for the Internetmight be a modem or network interface card and the interface 152 for aradio would be a tuner/demodulator circuit.

The announcements 115 are processed by the segment announcementreceivers to cause a function 170 to occur. Typically, the function 170is performed by a particular known control device 180 and the functioncontrols some aspect of the segment announcement receiver. For example,if the descriptive information indicates that the content stream is acommercial, a function 170 would be performed to adjust the soundcontrol (stop record) 180 of the television (video recorder) to mute(stop) 170 at the beginning of the commercial and to restore the sound(resume recording) 170 at the end of the commercial. Other examples offunctions 170 using known controls 180 are: a message display, a mute, astop record, a play, a start record, a screen blanking, and an alarm.

In some preferred embodiments, the segment announcement receivers 150have data structures 400 and processes 500 that are used toautomatically control the function of the segment announcement receiversbased on the one or more of the content descriptions of one or more ofthe content streams. See the description below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing alternative preferred embodiments ofthe segment announcer 110. Features in common with those in FIG. 1 havethe same designation numbers and description as above. The segmentannouncers 110 has a communication connector 205 appropriate to thecommunication connection 120 used. For example, if the communicationconnection 120 is the Internet, the communication connector 205 is amodem and/or a network interface card. If the communication connection120 is a radio or television over land broadcast signal, thecommunication connector 205 is a well known transmitter.

As stated before, the person/group 111 perceives (views, listens to) thecontent stream 112 and enters descriptive information 250 into thesegment announcer 110.

In an alternative embodiment, the descriptions 250 are enteredautomatically. For example, the descriptions 250 about the variouscontent streams 112 can be sent by a communications link 220, e.g. theInternet and/or a satellite connection that is fed as a data signal tothe segment announcer. In some cases these descriptions 250 are alreadyassociated with the content streams, e.g., “Nielson ratings” andprogramming descriptions from various (television) program subscriptionservices. Other devices can be used to automatically providedescriptions 250 about the content stream 112, e.g., an image brightnessdetection device, for detecting brightness changes at commercialboundaries, and/or other video image process devices that queries imagesby image content (see QBIC, an IBM video processor).

The system can be based on a combination of human monitors or electronicmeans of determining when program segments start and end. More than onemonitor (human or electronic) may be used for each program, the inputsfrom the monitors can be weighted in various means based on thereliability of the monitors (i.e., if there are three monitors of oneprogram and two of them say the program has resumed, the system could‘vote’ that the program has resumed. It could discount input frommonitors 111 who prove to be unreliable or slow.) Servers 110 can listento input from several monitors 111 and produce a more homogenized(perhaps more reliable) source of announcements 115.

In one embodiment, a service provided by the segment announcer 109 cannaturally be combined with a TV schedule application, to allowapplications to ‘record the Simpsons when it comes on’ 170, eliminatingcommercials 170 that come on before, during and after the broadcast. Inthis embodiment, more than one announcement 115 might be used, i.e.,turn on the recorder 160 when the show comes on, stop recording (170,180) the commercials, and start recording (170, 180) when the show comesback on.

The service can also allow content within a single program to beidentified, such as ‘turn it on when the weather forecast is on thelocal news’, or ‘record Andy Rooney's segment of 60 Minutes’.

In one preferred embodiment, the segment announcer 110 (perhaps usingHTTP) associates a Content Stream ID (322 below) with a specificbroadcast (i.e. ‘Star Trek on channel 11 from New York City’ as opposedto a possibly different ‘StarTrek’ from New Haven, Conn., or ‘ABC Newson the East Coast feed’ as opposed to the West Coast feed.)

Each announcement 115 is contained in a separate multicast UDP packet.Each packet contains the id of the program, the id of the monitorsending the report, the time of the event, and the type of event. Thisallows other information (such as commentary, copyright information,lyrics, captions and/or cue points to the included. Absolute time stampsare used (rather than the ‘delta time’ used in MIDI) because messagesmay be missed and because messages may be delayed.

Because absolute time stamps can be used as part of the description 250,the announcements (event messages) 115 for a program may be recorded forlater use. If a program is recorded in its entirety the record of theevents can be used in later viewing to fast forward, or used for endingpurposes.

FIG. 3, Segment Announcement Message, or announcement, 115

A segment announcement message 115 is used to communicate one or morepieces of information about what is going on in a segment (instant orinterval) of the content stream 112. This message typically comprisesthree parts: 1) Announcement Identifiers 310, 2) Segment Identifiers 320and Segment Content Information 350.

In a preferred embodiment, the Announcement Identifier comprises thefollowing fields: 1) the Message Tag 311, which identifies this messageas a Segment Announcement Message; the Announcer Id 312 which indicateswho is issuing the announcement (the origin and/or source of theannouncement, e.g. “Greenpeace”); and optional Authentication and orEncryption Data 313, which can be used to verify that the message camefrom the specified source and can prevent unauthorized use of theinformation.

The Segment Identifier section 320 has information identifying specificcontent in a segment or portion of the content stream 112 among all thehours of television being broadcast, and comprises: the Time 321, thetime of day at which the event described in this announcement 115 wastransmitted in the content stream 112; the Program Source Id 322, whichindicates which broadcast or transmission this refers to (i.e., WCBS,Channel 2 in New York City, or CNN Airport Channel, East Coast Feed),and optionally Position Within Frame Info 323, which indicates whatpoint or area within a video frame to which the announcement 115applies. Together the time 321 and Content Stream ID 322, and position(e.g. within frame) 323 identify what segment or portion of the contentstream to which the announcement 115 is message applies.

The Segment Content Information 350 describes the event in the segment(content stream 112) and comprises: the Announcement Type Identifier 351which indicates what sort of information this event describes. The FixedLength Announcement Content 352 and the Variable Length AnnouncementContent 353 fields are optional and contain the additional description.For example, an Announcement Type of ‘Start of Commercial’ or ‘End ofCommercial’ would require no Announcement Content fields. A ‘Rating’type message could contain an Announcement Content of ‘G’, ‘PG’, ‘R’,‘X’ or ‘XXX’. A ‘Comment’ type message could contain a long text messageor digital audio data.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example a filter record 400 in apreferred embodiment of the segment announcement receiver.

A preferred embodiment uses a table 400 as the basis of the AnnouncementReceiver's process for handling messages. The table contains rows (as anexample, typically 450–454), which constitute the user's wishes for howAnnouncement Messages 115 should be processed. If a row is considered to‘match’ the Announcement Message 115, an ‘action’ 425 specified in therecord is carried out.

Each row typically contains 5 fields: 1) the Announcement Type Field405, 2) the Announcement Content Field 410, 3) the Content Stream IdField 415, 4) the Announcer Id Field 420 and 5) the Action Field 425.Each of the first four fields can contain either a value that matchesthe corresponding field in an Announcement Message 115, or an ‘Any’indication. The Content Stream Id Field 415 may also contain a‘Currently Selected Channel’ value that is considered to be a match ifthe message's Content Stream Id matches the channel that the user (ofthe VCR) is currently watching. An ‘Any’ value is always considered amatch.

The Action Field 425 contains a list of functions 170 for the receiverto perform in case of a match. These functions 170 are performed by theknown control devices 180 and could include: turning the sound on oroff, turning the picture on or off, changing the selected TV channel,displaying text on a TV or computer screen, sounding an alarm, startingor stopping recording on a VCR.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a process 500 operating within the segmentannouncement receiver that activates/deactivates the control output(s)180 when certain packet information in the network message (announcement115) is received.

The process that is the heart of the Announcement Receiver is a loopthat: 1) waits for the next announcement 115 to arrive 505, 2) finds anyrows of the Filter Table 400 that match the announcement 510–525 and 3)perform the actions associated with each matching record 530.

After receiving the announcement 505 (perhaps with a Socket recv( )function), the programs sets a pointer to the first row in the FilterTable 400 and checks to see of the first four fields in the table405–420 match the corresponding fields in the announcement 115. If theymatch, the Action Field 425 is examined and each of the actions isperformed 530. Whether the first record matches or not, if there aremore records to test the pointer is incremented to point to the nextrecord and the next record is checked for a match, and so on.

The matching process 515–525 consists of the relevant fields in themessage's Announcement Identifiers 310, Segment Identifiers 320 andSegment Content Information 350 matches the corresponding fields in theFilter Table Record 450–454. If the corresponding fields do not actuallymatch, but the filter record contains an ‘Any’ indication, then theprogram proceeds as if the fields actually matched. In the case of theContent Stream Id Field 415 and 322, if the filter record field is‘Currently Selected Channel’ then the fields are considered a match ifthe announcement's field matches the channel that the TV or VCR iscurrently tuned to.

The announcement message 115 has an event time 321 associated with it.For most real time applications, the announcement will be receivedshortly after the event in the content stream has occurred. (i.e., theannouncement of the beginning of the commercial won't get to you untilslightly after the commercial is showing on your TV. This is because ofthe time it takes to detect the commercial and the delay in transmissionof the announcement.) In this case the actions 425 are executed as soonas the announcement has been matched 515–525, which is usually goodenough. In some situations, announcements 115 can be sent before thetime of the event in the content stream 112, in which case the executionof the action 425 is delayed.

In some situations the display of the content stream can be delayed, bylater video tape replay, or by short term electronic delay in the TV.This allows the system to correct the delay in detecting andtransmitting announcements by performing the action 425 at the correcttime relative to the display of the content stream 112.

1. A segment announcement receiver comprising: a receiver section thatreceives a plurality of announcements, wherein each of said plurality ofannouncements corresponds to a content being provided on one or morecontent streams, and said plurality of announcements are created by aplurality of announcers which are other than a broadcaster of said oneor more content streams and include: a description about saidcorresponding content in said one or more of the content streams; a timeat which said corresponding content is transmitted on said signal, and acontent identifier; a filter record including a plurality of actionscorresponding to an announcement type, content stream type, andannouncer identification, said plurality of actions including at leastone user preference for altering a presentation of said one or morecontent streams; and a controller that: compares an announcement typefor an announcement in said plurality of announcements with saidannouncement type in said filter record, compares an announceridentification for said announcement with said announcer identificationin said filter record, and compares a content stream type for said oneor more content streams with said content stream type in said filterrecord; and if said announcement type for said announcement matches saidannouncement type in said filter record, said announcer identificationfor said announcement matches said announcer identification in saidfilter record, and said content stream type for said one or more contentstreams matches said content stream type in said filter record, selectsa corresponding action from said plurality of actions to alter saidpresentation in accordance with said at least one user preference,wherein said plurality of announcements are not received via saidbroadcaster wherein said plurality of actions comprises at least one ofswitching a sound device of a presentation device to an ON state,switching the sound device of said presentation device to an OFF state,switching a display apparatus of said presentation device to an ONstate, switching a display apparatus of said presentation device to anOFF state, changing the channel on said presentation device, starting arecording operation, and stopping a recording operation.
 2. A segmentannouncement receiver, as in claim 1, where the description includes anyone or more of the following: a rating, a category, a comment, a contentdescription, a segment type, a program part, a program source, a review,a statistic, and a character name.
 3. A segment announcement receiver,as in claim 1, wherein the segment announcement receiver furthercomprises any one or more of the following: a television, a radio, aclosed circuit television, a video recorder, and a computer.
 4. Asegment announcement receiver as in claim 1, wherein said presentationis by any one or more of the following: a television, a radio, a closedcircuit television, a video recorder, and a computer.
 5. The receiver ofclaim 1, further comprising a presenting section for presenting saidcontent stream, wherein said controller controls said presenting sectionto alter said presentation.
 6. The receiver of claim 1, wherein saidreceiver section receives said plurality of announcements via a firstcommunication connection and wherein said one or more content streamsare provided on a second communication connection that is separate fromsaid first communication connection.
 7. The receiver of claim 1, whereinsaid receiver section receives said plurality of announcements via theInternet and wherein said one or more content streams are provided on acommunication connection that is separate from said Internet.
 8. Thereceiver of claim 1, wherein said receiver section receives saidplurality of announcements via a telephone network and wherein said oneor more content streams are provided on a communication connection thatis separate from said telephone network.
 9. The receiver of claim 1,wherein said one or more content streams are provided on one of a cabletelevision network, a television airwave broadcast and a satellitenetwork and wherein said receiver section receives said plurality ofannouncements via a connection that is completely independent of saidone of a cable television network, a television airwave broadcast and asatellite network.
 10. The receiver of claim 1, wherein said receiversection receives said plurality of announcements via a radio broadcastand wherein said one or more content streams are provided on acommunication connection that is separate from said radio broadcast. 11.The receiver of claim 1, wherein said receiver section receives saidplurality of announcements via a satellite broadcast and wherein saidone or more content streams are provided on a communication connectionthat is separate from said satellite broadcast.
 12. The receiver ofclaim 1, wherein said receiver section receives said plurality ofannouncements via a data network and wherein said one or more contentstreams are provided on a communication connection that is separate fromsaid data network.
 13. The receiver of claim 1, wherein said receiversection receives said plurality of announcements via physical transportof a storage media and wherein said one or more content streams areprovided on a communication connection that is separate from saidphysical transport of said storage media.
 14. A segment announcementreceiver comprising: a first receiver section that receives one or morecontent streams on a content carrier signal; a second receiver sectionthat receives a plurality of announcements which are created by aplurality of announcers which are other than a broadcast of said one ormore content streams, said plurality of announcements including: adescription about a corresponding content within said one or morecontent streams, a time at which the corresponding content istransmitted by the first receiver section, and a content identifier; afilter record including a plurality of actions corresponding to anannouncement type, content stream type, and announcer identification,said plurality of actions including at least one user preference foraltering a presentation of said one or more content streams; and acontroller that: compares an announcement type for an announcement insaid plurality of announcements with said announcement type in saidfilter record, compares an announcer identification for saidannouncement with said announcer identification in said filter record,and compares a content stream type for said one or more content streamswith said content stream type in said filter record; and if saidannouncement type for said announcement matches said announcement typein said filter record, said announcer identification for saidannouncement matches said announcer identification in said filterrecord, and said content stream type for said one or more contentstreams matches said content stream type in said filter record, selectsa corresponding action from said plurality of actions to alter saidpresentation in accordance with said at least one user preference,wherein said plurality of actions comprises at least one of switching asound device of a presentation device to an ON state, switching thesound device of said presentation device to an OFF state, switching adisplay apparatus of said presentation device to an ON state, switchinga display apparatus of said presentation device to an OFF state,changing the channel on said presentation device, starting a recordingoperation, and stopping a recording operation.
 15. The receiver of claim14, further comprising a presenting section for presenting said contentstream, wherein said controller controls said presenting section toalter said presentation.
 16. The receiver of claim 14, wherein saidfirst receiver section receives said one or more content streams via afirst communication connection and wherein said second receiver sectionreceives said plurality of announcements on a second communicationconnection that is separate from said first communication connection.17. A segment announcement system comprising: an analyzer that analysesa content of one or more content streams; an announcement generator thatcreates a plurality of announcements containing a description about saidcontent of one or more of the content streams; a transmitter sectionthat sends said plurality of announcement to one or more receivers, saidplurality of announcements being provided by a plurality of announcerswhich are other than a broadcaster of said one or more content streams,wherein each of said receivers comprises: a filter record including aplurality of actions corresponding to an announcement type, contentstream type, and announcer identification, said plurality of actionsincluding at least one user preference for altering a presentation ofsaid one or more content streams; and a controller that: compares anannouncement type for an announcement in said plurality of announcementswith said announcement type in said filter record, compares an announceridentification for said announcement with said announcer identificationin said filter record, and compares a content stream type for said oneor more content streams with said content stream type in said filterrecord; and if said announcement type for said announcement matches saidannouncement type in said filter record, said announcer identificationfor said announcement matches said announcer identification in saidfilter record, and said content stream type for said one or more contentstreams matches said content stream type in said filter record, selectsa corresponding action from said plurality of actions to alter saidpresentation in accordance with said at least one user preference,wherein said plurality of actions comprises at least one of switching asound device of a presentation device to an ON state, switching thesound device of said presentation device to an OFF state, switching adisplay apparatus of said presentation device to an ON state, switchinga display apparatus of said presentation device to an OFF state,changing the channel on said presentation device, starting a recordingoperation, and stopping a recording operation.
 18. A segmentannouncement system, as in claim 17, wherein the analyzer comprises anyone or more of the following: a person, a group of people, and anelectronic signal processor.
 19. A segment announcement system, as inclaim 18, wherein the electronic signal processor includes any or moreof the following: a brightness detection device, and video image processthat queries by image content.
 20. A segment announcement system, as inclaim 17, wherein the announcement further comprises a time associatedwith the content.
 21. A segment announcement system, as in claim 20,wherein the announcement further comprises a content identifier.
 22. Thereceiver of claim 17, further comprising a presenting section forpresenting said content stream, wherein said controller controls saidpresenting section to alter said presentation.
 23. The system of claim17, wherein said analyzer analyzes said content on said one or morecontent streams on a first communication connection and wherein saidtransmitter section sends said announcement to said one or morereceivers using a second communication connection that is separate fromsaid first communication connection.
 24. A closed circuit transmissionsystem comprising: a segment announcer comprising: an analyzer thatanalyses a content of one or more content streams, wherein said analyzercomprises a party other than a broadcaster of said content; anannouncement generator that creates a plurality of announcementscontaining a description about said content and a time associated withsaid content; and a transmitter section that sends the plurality ofannouncements; and a segment announcement receiver comprising: areceiver section for receiving said plurality of announcements and saidone or more content streams; a filter record including a plurality ofactions corresponding to an announcement type, content stream type, andannouncer identification, said plurality of actions including at leastone user preference for altering a presentation of said one or morecontent streams; and a controller that: compares an announcement typefor an announcement in said plurality of announcements with saidannouncement type in said filter record, compares an announceridentification for said announcement with said announcer identificationin said filter record, and compares a content stream type for said oneor more content streams with said content stream type in said filterrecord; and if said announcement type for said announcement matches saidannouncement type in said filter record, said announcer identificationfor said announcement matches said announcer identification in saidfilter record, and said content stream type for said one or more contentstreams matches said content stream type in said filter record, selectsa corresponding action from said plurality of actions to alter saidpresentation in accordance with said at least one user preference,wherein said announcement is not sent to said receiver via saidbroadcaster, and wherein said plurality of actions comprises at leastone of switching a sound device of a presentation device to an ON state,switching the sound device of said presentation device to an OFF state,switching a display apparatus of said presentation device to an ONstate, switching a display apparatus of said presentation device to anOFF state, changing the channel on said presentation device, starting arecording operation, and stopping a recording operation.
 25. Thereceiver of claim 24, further comprising a presenting section forpresenting said content stream, wherein said controller controls saidpresenting section to alter said presentation.
 26. The system of claim24, wherein said analyzer analyzes said content on said one or morecontent streams on a first communication connection and wherein saidtransmitter section sends said announcement to said one or morereceivers using a second communication connection that is separate fromsaid first communication connection.
 27. A process comprising: providinga plurality of announcements by a plurality of announcers which areother than a broadcaster of a content stream; receiving said contentstream, said plurality of announcements having a description about acontent of said content stream; referring to a filter record including aplurality of actions corresponding to an announcement type, contentstream type, and announcer identification, said plurality of actionsincluding at least one user preference for altering a presentation ofsaid one or more content streams; comparing an announcement type for anannouncement in said plurality of announcements with said announcementtype in said filter record, comparing an announcer identification forsaid announcement with said announcer identification in said filterrecord, and comparing a content stream type for said one or more contentstreams with said content stream type in said filter record; and if saidannouncement type for said announcement matches said announcement typein said filter record, said announcer identification for saidannouncement matches said announcer identification in said filterrecord, and said content stream type for said one or more contentstreams matches said content stream type in said filter record, selectsa corresponding action from said plurality of actions to alter saidpresentation in accordance with said at least one user preference,wherein said announcement is not provided via said broadcaster, whereinsaid plurality of actions comprises at least one of switching a sounddevice of a presentation device to an ON state, switching the sounddevice of the presentation device to an OFF state, turning a displayapparatus of the presentation device to an ON state, turning the displayapparatus of the presentation device to an ON state, changing thechannel on the presentation device, starting a recording operation, andstopping a recording operation.
 28. The process of claim 27, whereinsaid providing comprises providing said announcement to a firstcommunication connection and wherein said content stream is provided ona second communication connection that is separate from the firstcommunication connection.
 29. A segment announcement receivercomprising: means for providing a plurality of announcements from aplurality of announcers which are other than a broadcaster of a contentstream; means for receiving said content stream, said plurality ofannouncements having a description about a content of said contentstream; means for referring to a filter record including a plurality ofactions corresponding to an announcement type, content stream type, andannouncer identification, said plurality of actions including at leastone user preference for altering a presentation of said one or morecontent streams; means for comparing an announcement type for anannouncement in said plurality of announcements with said announcementtype in said filter record, comparing an announcer identification forsaid announcement with said announcer identification in said filterrecord, and comparing a content stream type for said one or more contentstreams with said content stream type in said filter record; and meansfor selecting a corresponding action from said plurality of actions toalter said presentation in accordance with said at least one userpreference, if said announcement type for said announcement matches saidannouncement type in said filter record, said announcer identificationfor said announcement matches said announcer identification in saidfilter record, and said content stream type of said one or more contentstreams matches said content stream type in said filter record, whereinsaid announcement is not provided via said broadcaster, and wherein saidplurality of actions comprises at least one of switching a sound deviceof a presentation device to an ON state, switching the sound device ofthe presentation device to an OFF state, switching a display device ofthe presentation device to an ON state, switching the display device ofthe presentation device to an ON state, changing the channel on apresentation device, starting a recording operation, and stopping arecording operation.
 30. The process of claim 29, wherein said means forproviding comprises means for providing said announcement to a firstcommunication connection and wherein said content stream is provided ona second communication connection that is separate from the firstcommunication connection.